An aerial view of the home of Sandra Lee, girlfriend of Gov. Cuomo. Photo: Douglas Healey

Seems New York’s governor doesn’t know his assessor from his elbow.

Andrew Cuomo found himself in an embarrassing position after his girlfriend, celebrity cook Sandra Lee, barred the county tax assessor from entering the six-bedroom New Castle home she shares with him.

She had good reason. Lee knew that if she let the assessor in to see the work done, the assessment would go up — and with it their property taxes. But she made one mistake.

Let’s put it this way: If you want to keep your renovations secret, it’s probably not a good idea to let magazines in to report on them. Turns out tax assessors can read People and New York and Elle Decor too.

When the Journal News looked into the Lee-Cuomo digs on the aptly named Bittersweet Lane, it found Lee had failed to get building permits.

If she had, of course, it would have tipped off tax assessors. When asked if the tax assessor had been refused entry to his home, the governor pleaded ignorance, triggering charges of tax evasion.

Frankly, we sympathize with the couple. One of the perverse incentives of our property-tax laws is that they penalize people for improving their homes.

But the news is not all bad. The governor and his lady love live in Westchester where, unlike most of the state, property taxes have actually been cut these past fear years. So their increase is less than it might have been.

And for that, the Lee-Cuomos should thank the governor’s rival in this year’s race: West­chester County Executive Rob Astorino.